It has been a pleasure to meet many alumni and employers during my first year as director. Your
feedback and support are meaningful and appreciated. I look forward to meeting more of you in the coming
months and at the College of Business Alumni Tailgate on October 21. Register at https://go.unl.edu/alumnitailgate.
Our focus on career preparation remains a top priority. Students continue to find value in
the spring internship program that allows them to complete
12 credit hours and gain valuable real-world experience without delaying graduation. Our
students maintain high placement rates with 97% of our MPA graduates and 92% of our
bachelor’s graduates reporting they secured jobs within six months or choose to continue
their education.
While the declared undergraduate accounting major students declined to 494 in fall 2022
from 552 in 2020, our Master of Professional Accountancy enrollments increased to 54
students from a low of 36 in 2020. We continue to devote efforts to recruiting accounting
students. Discover Accounting is a free summer camp geared toward educating high
school students about opportunities in the profession. Professional Development
Days, held during the academic year, allow employers to join us in educating
sophomore and junior students. Student organizations provide an opportunity
for undergraduates to showcase their skills – whether through Beta Alpha
Psi (who had a team finish first in the Best Practices Competition at their
national mid-year meeting), the Deloitte FanTAXtic Competition or Audit
Innovation Challenge.
Faculty continue to excel in research and the classroom. The school is
ranked #1 in audit archival research in the Big Ten, #3 in both tax archival
research in the Big Ten and #3 in the overall relevance of accounting research
category. A main contributor to this success is Professor Tom Omer, who is
retiring at the conclusion of this academic year. At Nebraska since 2013, he
concludes a 37-year decorated academic career. Instrumental in
mentoring Ph.D. students and developing innovative ideas across all areas
of accounting curriculum, he also recruited most of the current faculty.
We thank him for all he has done for the school, college and profession.
Your input and support are critical for our continued success in equipping
students for professional challenges they will face after graduation. Most
of our private donations are applied to student scholarships and faculty
development. I hope you will continue to help us prepare our students to lead the
future of accounting.
On behalf of the faculty and students in the School of Accountancy, I thank you
for your support. Hope to see you at the Business Alumni Tailgate. Go Big Red!
Jimmy Downes
Director